Horace Altman
Horace Altman is an extremely good friend of Will's and is one of the youngest and most famous knights in the kingdom of Araluen. History He grew up in the ward at Redmont after being orphaned at a young age. Initially he and Will were antagonistic towards one another, but gradually became best friends. Horace becomes a Battleschool apprentice and shows natural talent with the sword. Usurped in Gallica as the Knight of the Oakleaf, his arms bear the insignia of an oakleaf. Horace is currently Captain of the King's Royal Guard. He has a legendary reputation, having defeated Morgarath in single combat, made his way through Gallica as Knight of the Oakleaf, helped save Skandia from the Temujai, and saved Clonmel as the Sunrise Warrior. He is a champion to Princess Cassandra, and a deeper relationship between them is hinted at in The Battle For Skandia and throughout the rest of the series. He eventually married the King's daughter; thus it is implied that he becomes heir to the throne of Araluen. In The Emperor of Nihon-Ja, it was announced that he and Princess Cassandra would be getting married. He then suggested that Gundar performed the wedding while traveling home to Araluen, to which Evanlyn replied, "Gundar isn't as much a ship's captain as a reformed pirate and a heathen." Gundar cheerfully accepted this, saying "I'm not too sure about the reformed part." The Ruins of Gorlan Horace grew up in the Orphan Ward in Castle Redmont, with several other orphans, including the famous Will Treaty, the famous chef Jenny, the scribe George, and the beautiful courier Alyss; he and Will were enemies for part of the first book because he bullied Will. Horace was chosen out of the orphans by Sir Rodney to join the Battleschool. The Battleschool leaders recognized Horace's hard work and determination, and this gave him a good reputation. He was also said to be a natural swordsman. He and Will went on a boar hunt and nearly got killed - if it were not for Will who saved him, leading to an unbreakable friendship. The Burning Bridge After Will's defeat of the threatening Kalkara, Horace joined Will and Ranger Gilan to deliver a message to Celtica. They soon meet Princess Cassandra, hiding under the name of Evanlyn. After Gilan left to report the situation in Celtica, Horace, Will and Evanlyn discovered a horde of Wargals, Lord Morgarath's creatures. There, after Gilan taught Will the double knife defense, with Horace watching, Will and Horace sparred with sticks to let Will practice the double knife defense. They were preparing for battle along with the now allied Skandians. A bridge was being used to reach Celtica across the Fissure, a seemingly impassable split in the earth. From there General Horth would flank the Araluen army. Will and Evanlyn burned the bridge, with Horace keeping watch, but the former two got captured, so Horace set off to warn the king of the approaching Skandian army and his two companions' fate. Not long after he fought Lord Morgarath in single combat, in which Horace killed him, getting badly injured in the process. The Icebound Land (front) and Halt (back left).]]In The Icebound Land ''he joins Halt in his quest to find Will and bring him back to Araluen. In Gallica he develops a good relationship with Halt who in return warms to him; they eventually become good friends, Horace, like almost every young character in the series, looking up to him as a mentor-like figure. Horace soon earns a great reputation as a knight and warrior in Gallica after he challenges various knights to a duel. Many of them were what Halt called 'idiots', who take it upon themselves to 'adopt' various bridges, and force people to pay tribute or fight in order to pass. Later in the book Horace had an unwanted meeting with the evil Lord Deparnieux, who had heard of Horace's reputation and had come to challenge him to a duel. Horace remained unfazed by the various insults that the lord throws at him and when Deparnieux tries to slap him across the face with his glove (the traditional method of challenging someone to a duel) Halt uses his longbow and an arrow to spear it to the roof of the inn. Later, Horace and Halt are both captured by the lord, where they are virtually made prisoners.Horace is disgusted at the lord's behavior, both his methods of punishment and the contempt with which he treats his staff. They later escape after Halt challenges Deparnieux to a duel and wins, killing the evil warlord. The Battle for Skandia In the Battle for Skandia, Horace joins forces with the Skandians along with his friends and helps to fight against the Temujai. He helps to defend Will's position with the archers. The Sorcerer in the North In the Sorcerer in the North Horace makes a brief appearance at the end of the book with Halt and Crowley, being sent off to help Will in Macindaw and provide some support if the situation becomes dangerous. The Siege of Macindaw Horace appears with Will in book six and helps him, along with the Skandians and Malcolm to take Castle Macindaw and rescue Alyss. He first appears travelling under the alias of Sir Hawken, a freelance knight, travelling through Norgate on Kicker. He is met and challenged by Buttle, the brigand from the Sorcerer in the North Will dealt with in a relativly unconventional way, he has become a knight (though a bit of a lousy one) and tries to get Horace to work for him in Castle Macindaw when Horace refuses he is about to attack him but thinks again as Horace has a very calm and confident expression on his face despite being face with several armed men. He rides off whilst Horace continues on the way. He eventually comes to the inn Will stayed in when travelling as a jonguleur and arouses the innkeepers suspicions by asking questions about Will which the innkeeper doesn't like. Will suddenly appears in the doorway, having found at from Malcolm's friends that Horace is in the neighborhood. For a moment the two have a stand-off initially not recognizing each other before falling about laughing and embracing one another. The innkeeper is confused but that turns to delight when Will lets it slip that Hawken is actually Horace. The innkeeper sidles off to tell his wife that two famous heroes are in his house. Horace later travels with Will to Healer's Clearing in Grimsdell forest which Will has pretty much made his base. Erak's Ransom In Erak's Ransom Horace is an usher at Halt and Pauline's wedding. He then accompanies Cassandra, Will, Gilan and Halt to Arridi to negotiate Erak's ransom after the Skandia oberjarl is captured by the Arridi. The Kings of Clonmel In the Kings of Clonmel Horace accompanies Will and Halt to Clonmel in Hibernia to help deal with the Outsiders . He takes on the guise of a legendary warrior from the east: The Sunrise Warrior; to help win the confidence of the people of Hibernia. He later takes on Tennyson's two bodyguards in a duel but is poisoned by a Genovesan assassin who puts a drug in his water which makes his eyesight go blurry so he cannot see properly for a few days. Halt's Peril After Horace has recovered from the affects the drug given to him in the previous book and Sean has been made King he and Halt travel after Will who has gone ahead to a port in Hibernia where Tennyson was last seen heading. The two soon catch up with Will who morosely tells them that he was unable to convince a smuggler by the name of Black O'Malley to take them to Araluen. The three then go together and Halt convinces the smuggler to take them back. Horace later stays with Halt whilst Will goes off to fetch Malcolm after Halt is poisoned by a Genovesan Assassin. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja In the Emperor of Nihon-Ja, Horace is sent to Nihon-Ja along with his old ward-mate George. He soon becomes good friends with Shigeru and is sad when his time in Nihon-Ja draws to an end. However, news is brought of the rebellion against Shigeru and Horace initially wishes to stay with Shigeru but is unable to as he has no right to get tangled up in Nihon-Jan politics. They are then attacked by a band of scouts sent by Arisaka to kill Shigeru, Horace helps to fight them off and his life is saved by George who takes an arrow for him. Later when he is about to leave for the coast to journey back to Araluen he tells his friends that he can't as he attacked Arisaka's senshi and is now involved in the war one way or another. George is initially indignant but then sees what Horace means and tells the knight that he will send a letter to Cassandra telling her what has happened. The Lost Stories Horace appears in several of the tales from the Lost Stories. Death of a Hero Horace is mentioned briefly by Halt in ''Death of a Hero. The Bridal Dance In the Bridal Dance Horace is married to Cassandra by Arald. And About Time Too... Horace and Cassandra are present at Alyss and Will's wedding. Horace being the best mand and Cassandra the maid of honor. He wrote to Will a little while before the wedding saying that Cassandra was preganant and he was soon to be a father. 'Description' Horace is described as being very tall and muscular with broad shoulders and narrow hips (the classic build of a knight). He has bright blue eyes which are described as being guileless, and brown hair. Horace isn't often said to be a good thinker; however, this is not entirely true. He is slower and more methodical in his way of thinking, when compared to his friends. He is a dependable friend and is very courageous, as shown when he duels Morgarath in The Burning Bridge. Horace is very loyal to the knightly code of conduct, something which is shown to exasperate Halt in book four as he thinks more practically than Horace and also Ranger's are often more 'flexible' with the law than other people. He uses a cavalry sword, which was replaced in'' The Emperor of Nihon-ja with a replica that was remade to be harder, in a similar way to the Ranger's saxe knives. Ever since he was a child, Horace has been afraid of confined, dark spaces (revealed in Halt's Peril). When going through the tunnel in Book 9 of the Ranger Apprentice series, after the first few meters he began to panic. The following is a paragraph from Halt's Peril: '"For the first few metres, there was enough light from the entrance to keep him oriented. But after the tunnel began to twist and turn, it became darker and he felt the old familiar sense of panic as he imagined the blackness around him squeezing in on him. In his mind, the darkness was a solid thing, like the rock itself, and he began to fantasise that it was crushing him, holding him in a gradually tightening vice so that he couldn't breathe. His heart began to race as he stared around him, seeing nothing. His chest was tightening and then he realised that, in his nervousness, he had actually neglected to breathe. He drew in a deep shuddering breath."' Skills *Swordsman- ''Horace is an incredibly talented swordsman, one of the best in the kingdom of Araluen, he is famed for his ability with the sword, something his tutors saw as soon as he joined up with the Battleschool. *'Tactician' - Though he doesn't have the same ability when it comes to thinking up combat tactics as Rangers do, he has been taught in his time at Battleschool how to deal with various scenarios, such as taking siege to a castle and so on. *'Double Knife Defence'- in his time travelling with Will and Gilan in the Burning Bridge he learnt a bit about the Ranger's double knife defense technique which he later used on Morgarath when challenging the evil warlord to a duel. Influence of the Rangers Horace also received Halt's spare camouflage cloak, to the annoyance of the two Rangers, as he kept asking if they could see him, like a child with a new toy. His time with the Rangers has changed his thinking, and general view of the world. Horace has become more flexible with bending of laws and chivalry. He looks up to the Rangers as indestructible and infallible. He also received minor unseen movement, unheard movement, tracking, and scouting instruction from Halt and Will in Halt's Peril. It is somewhat hinted that when he was knighted as the Oakleaf Knight, this makes him an ally/honorary member of the Rangers, as their symbol is the Oakleaf. His horse, Kicker is comparable to a Ranger horse in physical capability, and is learning miscellaneous thing from his Ranger counterparts, too. Relationships *Cassandra - Horace and Cassandra were close friends with each other along with Will Treaty. It was hinted througout the books that they had feelings for each other. At the end of The Emperor of Nihon-Ja, Horace proposed to Cassandra and she accepted. Their marriage was shown in the The Lost Stories. *Will Treaty - In the first book, Horace and Will were enemies, but gradually throughout the book, they became extremely close friends. *Halt - Horace and Halt are good friends. They traveled together to rescue Will in The Icebound Land and Oakleaf Bearers. They, with Will, went on a journey to stop the Genovesans in The King's of Clonmel and Halt's Peril. Halt is rather annoyed, but deep down happy, with Horace's deep curiousity like Will. Horace respects the Ranger very much. *Alyss - Horace and Alyss were friends during their time in the Redmont Ward. Horace also encouraged the romantic relationship between Will and Alyss at the end of book 6. *Sir Rodney - Horace respects his Craftmaster very much. Sir Rodney thinks Horace will turn into a great knight. Other names *Baby (nickname given to him by Alda, Bryn, and Jerome) *Sir Horace (after he was knighted) *Sir Hawken (when undercover in Norgate) *Knight of the Oakleaf - Chevalier de la feuille de chêne (title given to Horace by Halt when they were travelling through Gallica to get rid of bandit knights) *Michael (when undercover in Clonmel) *The Sunrise Warrior (title given to Horace by Halt. The Warrior is a Hibernian myth) *Or'ss-san (title given while visiting Nihon-Ja; simplified version of Horace-san.) *''Kurokuma'' -black bear in Nihon-Jan (title given by Shigeru and Shukin for his "prowess at the dinner table"). 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